Stipe @ The Limelight Club Crewe, Jan 1st 2004				Review by Sarah Bayley
	On New Years Day at 9.00pm my Mum and I went to Crewe Limelight to watch Stipe, an REM Tribute Band. When I think of tribute bands i think of really poor caberet performances but having seen these once before at The Rigger I knew I had something to look forward to tonight. When we arrived at a little before 9.00pm the downstairs concert room of The Limelight was packed, we went to stand at the back as there were no seats left. By the time the band started there must have been at least 400 people there, I was very surprised to see so many after their gig at The Rigger only pulled a crowd of about 30 people. The band came on stage at 10.00 pm and began their set with the appropriate 'Begin the Begin' from the REM album 'Lifes Rich Pageant'. They played songs from all aspects of REM's time together over the past 20 years including some from the newly released Greatest Hits album such as Bad Day aswell as REM's next single due to be released called 'Animal'. Other songs included 'The Great Beyond', 'Nightswimming', 'Losing My Religion' and concluding with 'The End of The World'. The band looked to be having a really good time and there was a great atmosphere as people on the floor were dancing all night. At one point one very brave girl went up from the crowd to help out the leadsinger, performing the female part of 'Shiny Happy People'. The band played for an hour and a half, returning to do an encore with cheers from the crowd. It was nice not to just see so many people turnout, but to see a crowd with such a varied age range. Stipe are a fantastic REM Tribute band who have played all over the UK and Ireland. When watching REM at the Manchester Move Festival in the summer of 2003 we bumped into Stipe and they told us that they had played to a crowd of 50,000 shortly after their gig at The Rigger. With a comprehensive tour already lined up for 2004 this band are most definately worth a watch!! This gig was actually FREE!!! They will be returning to Crewe in a few months, visit their website for more information at www.stipe.co.uk
	Taken From The Stoke Rock Scene web site. Click Here To Go To Original Page